Swamp Thing Vol 5 34
, so that he can see the rest through his eyes. Solemnly, Alec releases the body to the Green, and within moments he senses the fire Lady Weeds caused and excuses himself. Alec has taken the bait, and he arrives at the hospital to see the blaze next door, and the blood spattered all over the hospital's windows. Grimly, he witnesses the carnage that the Wolf has wrought. Alec and the creature battle, but this is all part of Lady Weeds' design. The Wolf is meant only to delay and distract while she returns to the swamp and seeks out Guarav. She demands of him to serve every avatar - including herself. In the hospital, Alec is disconnected enough plant life in that sterile environment that he cannot leave his body, and the dying plants in the park cannot serve as his eyes. This allows the Wolf to escape, and wait until daylight. Come morning, Lady Weeds and Wolf return to downtown New Orleans, and take a pair of hostages, calling on Alec to come to her. Alec obliges, but she warns that if he attacks, the Wolf will kill their hostages. Lady Weeds explains that she is well aware that despite all whom the Wolf killed the night before, Alec would do anything to prevent him from killing too more. Alec's only recourse is to kneel and let Guarav put her into the Avatar's body. Alec refuses, and so Lady Weeds commands the Wolf to injure his hostages. He hesitates, though, and she taunts his cowardice. In response, he releases the hostages, enraging her further. He announces that he would rather fail than succeed in this artless way. He declares that they are both a plague upon this earth, and thrusts his claws through his own throat. As he lies dying, The Wolf warns Alec that he did this to them. Alec responds that they did it to themselves. He gave them lives, and they chose to live them this way. They were too focused on their past to see their present. He admits that he could put the Wolf back into the Green, and save him, allowing him to lie dormant with the other members of the Parliament until one day they might see redemption - but he won't. In the meantime, Lady Weeds escapes to to the police cordon surrounding them, feigning victimhood. The police usher her into the back of an ambulance, but after killing the EMT inside, she discovers that she is trapped at the mercy of Capucine, who has caught up with her. She comments that she had loved just once in the last hundred years, and Lady Weeds took that from her. Lady Weeds reminds that the Avatar would never allow Capucine to kill her. Capucine admits that he would not - but she can do other things. Lady Weeds had always complained about how powerless she felt in her human body. Swiftly, Capucine snaps Lady Weeds' neck, leaving her alive, but paralyzed from the neck down. She would feel more powerless now. As he stands over the Wolf's carcass, Alec is interrupted by a strange being who introduces itself in the plural as Calculus. It claims that there is a better way than this. | Appearing1 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * * * Villains: * * Other Characters: * Locations: * ** ** Concepts: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Notes = * This issue is reprinted in the collection. | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = }}